Brick elevator

ABSTRACT

An elevator for brick, cinder block, or other types of construction materials which are to be moved from a point of storage and loading to a point of unloading and use, the elevator having a support assembly to position the same in an inclined position, there being a trackway defining a trough and a series of spaced platforms, there being a driven chain which rides in said trough and has lugs extending upwardly beyond the horizontal plane of the platforms whereby the materials placed on the platforms may be conveyed from a point of loading to a point of unloading. At the point of unloading the elevator is provided with an extension hingedly attached thereto, the extension presenting a pair of spaced ramps, each having a plurality of rollers carried thereby whereby to permit the movement of materials therealong to a point of rest until such time as they are removed from the extension.

United States Patent Vogel [451 Aug. 1,1972

[54] BRICK ELEVATOR [72] Inventor: Harold E. Vogel, Route 2, Sedalia,

[22] Filed: Feb. 24, 1971 [2]] Appl. No.: 118,314

[52] US. Cl. ..l98/l32, 198/73, 190/204 [51] Int. Cl ..B65g 15/00 [58] Field of Search ..l98/204, 173, 172, 139, 132,

Primary Examiner-Richard E. Aegerter Attorney-Schmidt, Johnson, Hovey & Wil

[5 7] ABSTRACT An elevator for brick, cinder block, or other types of construction materials which are to be moved from a point of storage and loading to a point of unloading and use, the elevator having a support assembly to position the same in an inclined position, there being a trackway defining a trough and a series of spaced platforms, there being a driven chain which rides in said trough and has lugs extending upwardly beyond the horizontal plane of the platforms whereby the materials placed on the platforms may be conveyed from a point of loading to a point of unloading. At the point of unloading the elevator is provided with an extension hingedly attached thereto, the extension presenting a pair of spaced ramps, each having a plurality of rollers carried thereby whereby to permit the movement of materials therealong to a point of rest until such time as they are removed from the extension.

4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures BRICK ELEVATOR It is the primary object of this invention to provide an elevator for brick or other similar building materials, which elevator is particularly usable in construction areas to move the material from a point of storage and loading on the elevator to an elevated position where the material is to be used.

Accordingly, it is a primary aim of this invention to provide an elevator having a trackway which readily receives the material to be elevated, the trackway defining a centrally disposed, longitudinal trough extending the length thereof, and a pair of spaced, vertically elevated platforms, the platforms being of a dimension particularly intended to receive a tong of brick of standard size or cinder blocks of conventional configuration, as well as other building materials and receptacles therefor which are conventionally used in construction.

Yet another important object of this invention is to provide an elevator for brick or the like, which elevator has an extension swingably attached to the unloading end thereof, the extension being provided with a pair of spaced ramps, each of the ramps having a plurality of rollers extending above the plane thereof whereby the materials delivered to the unloading end of the elevator may move along said extension and be held thereon until such time as they are removed for use.

Other objects include details of construction such as the provision of a slide for returning a hod downwardly along the elevator; the spacing of the lugs upon which rides in the trough; and other details of construction which will become apparent from the following specification and accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, top plan view of the elevator;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary view of a portion of the unloading end thereof;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4--4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the elevator.

The elevator is broadly designated by the numeral 10 and includes a support assembly 12 having a pair of legs 14 whereby to maintain the elevator 10 in an inclined position, the support assembly 12 being provided with wheels 16, the elevator also being provided with a trailer hitch 18 whereby the entire elevator may be readily moved between points of use.

The elevator 10 includes an essentially polygonal frame 20, which frame supports a trackway, broadly designated by the numeral 22, on the normally uppermost surface thereof, the frame also presenting a pair of spaced rails 24 and 26 which extend throughout the length of the elevator along the trackway 22. The trackway 22 is continuous throughout the length of the elevator 10 from the normally lowermost end 28 thereof, which is the loading end, to the normally uppermost end 30, which is the unloading end of the elevator 10.

The trackway 22 defines a centrally disposed, longitudinally extending trough 32 which receives a driven chain 34, the chain being best illustrated in FIG. 2 and consisting of a plurality of links having spaced-apart, upwardly extending lugs 36 therealong.

The trough 32 has a pair of opposed .sidewalls 38 which extend upwardly from the bottom wall 40 of the trough 32. The trackway 22 then defines a first platform 42 which is comprised of a pair of horizontally spaced stretches 44 and 46, the stretches being essentially planar and lying in a horizontal plane above the bottom 40 of trough 32.

The trackway 22 is then again stepped upwardly as at 48 to define a second platform '50, the platform 50 being defined by a pair of horizontally spaced stretches 52 and 54 of trackway 22, all as is clearly shown in FIG. 3 of the drawing. It is to be noted that stretch 54 is joined to rail 24 of the frame 20 to impart rigidity to the trackway 22. Furthermore, the trackway 22 is supported at spaced intervals therealong by cross members 56 which underlie the trough 32, all as is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

The stretch 52 of second platform 50 is spaced from rail 26, there being an angle 58 between the edge of stretch 52 and rail 26, the angle having its upstanding leg 60 secured to the edge of stretch 52 and its horizontal leg 62 in a plane essentially the same as that of bottom 40 of trough 32. It is to be noted that the angle 58 extends throughout the length of the trackway 22 and is likewise supported by the cross members 56 at spaced intervals therealong. The angle 58 and side rail 26 cooperate to define a return slide for materials and containers therefor such as, for instance, a mortar hod 64, which hod is fragmentarily shown in FIG. 3 in a return position.

The chain 34 is suitably driven by a conventional power source, gearing and sprocket wheel such as, for instance, sprocket 66 disposed adjacent the unloading end 30 of the elevator 10, the chain 34 being trained over such sprockets as are necessary to support and drive the same, it being noted that chain 34 rides in the trough 32 throughout the length of said trough.

The return flight of chain 34 is trained over a plurality of spaced idler wheels such as 68, shown in FIG. 4, the idler wheels being supported within the frame 20 by vertical braces 70, whereby said idler wheels may carry the return flight of the chain 34.

There is provided, at the unloading end 30 of the elevator 10, an extension 72 which is hingedly connected to the normally uppermost unloading end of trackway 22 as by hinges 74, the extension 72 having a transverse cross-sectional configuration such as shown in FIG. 5 whereby to present a trough 76, a pair of opposed, spaced horizontal ramps 78 and 80, the ramps each having a corresponding, upwardly extending sidewall 82 and 84, respectively.

Each of the ramps 78 and is provided with a plurality of rollers 86, all of the rollers being identical in construction and each roller having a shaft 88, the shafts 88 being secured to the lower faces 90 of the ramps 78 and80, the ramps each being provided with slots such as 92 therein whereby the rollers 86 may each extend through a corresponding slot and into a horizontal plane above that of the upper faces 94 of the ramps 78 and 80. It will be noted that the end of trough 76 proximal to the unloading end 30 of the elevator 10 is provided with a suitable aperture such as 96 whereby the sprocket 66 may extend therethrough and permit return of the chain 34.

The lugs 36 on chain 34 are spaced at longitudinal intervals therealong, these intervals being equal to the length of a tong of brick. A tong of brick is that number of standard size building brick which may be lifted by a set of brick-carrying tongs. Thus, as a worker moves a tong of bricks to the loading end 28 of the elevator 10, the tong may be placed in front of a lug 36 of the chain 34, the bricks of standard size being supported by the first platform 42 between the stepped portions 48. Thus, it will be appreciated that a tong of standard size bricks is retained between steps 48 and on first platform 42 and between a pair of spaced lugs 36 of the chain 34. Thus, slippage or movement of the tong of bricks is adequately prevented as the same moves from the loading end 28 of the elevator to the unloading end thereof.

As the tong of bricks moves off of unloading end 30 the same are supported by the plurality of rollers 86 and thus roll along the ramps 78 and 80 of. the extension 72, remaining on such extension until they can be removed therefrom by a worker at the unloading end 30 of the elevator 10.

- If cinder blocks are to be moved by the elevator 10, for instance, the sameare supported by second platform 50, the platform 50' being of a dimension to receive cinder blocks of conventional size. It is, of course, apparent that the'lugs 36 of the chain 34 extend above the horizontal plane defined by both platform 42 and platform 50 whereby the lugs may move into engagement with materials placed on either of said platforms.

' It is also intended that the elevator may be utilized for other building material such as, for instance, stone, other masonry materials, roofing material such as a bundle of shingles, or for that matter, any material which is of a size or package that can be placed upon either platform 42 or platform 50 and engaged by th lugs 36.

It is also contemplated that the elevator could be provided with suitable electrical control mechanism whereby to be operated automatically or semiautomatically, or to be operated by the load thereon so that a load might be elevated, delivered to extension 72 and then the elevator stopped until such time as the load is removed from the extension 72. It is important to note that the load delivered onto extension 72 will remain thereon until it is picked up and that it remains stationary until removed from the extension 72.

ln FIG. 6, the elevator is illustrated as carrying a tong of brick 98, the tong consisting of ten standard size brick and also is illustrated as carrying a mortar hod 64, the hod being of such transverse dimensions as will per- ,mit it to be received on either platform 42 or 50 and has been emptied, it ispositioned as shown at FIG. 3 at the unloading end 30 of the elevator and can then slide to the loading end 28 along the rail 26 and angle 58 as illustrated, thus facilitating ready return of the hod to a loading area. i

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. An elevator for brick or the like comprising:

a trackway;

ti gli an 3 l iifl s irii gl iform defined by said trackway, said trough being positioned centrally of said trackway, said first platform being defined by a pair of horizontally spaced, level stretches of said trackway adjacent said trough and lying in' a horizontal plane above that of ,the trough, said second platform being defined by a pair of horizontallyspaced, level stretches of said trackway adjacent said stretches defining said first platform and lying in a horizontal plane above that of said first platform; and adriven chain carried bysaid support assembly for movement along said trackway in said trough, said chain having spaced apart lugs thereon, said lugs extending above the horizontal plane of all of said platforms. I 2. An elevator as set forth in claim 1, there being a pair of opposed rails for said trackway, one of said rails being secured to one stretch of said'second platform,

the other rail being spaced from the other stretch of said second platform; and an angle member between said other rail and said other stretch, said rail and said angle member cooperating to define a hod return slide.

3. An elevator for brick or the like comprising a trackway;

a support assembly for said trackway;

a driven chain carried by said support assembly for movement along said trackway, said chain having spaced-apart lugs thereon;

a trough and a series of spaced platforms defined by said trackway, said chain moving in said trough, the brick being supported by a selected platform and moved therealong by said chain; and 1 an extension hingedly attached to the unloading end of said trackway, said extension defined by a pair of horizontally spaced ramps and opposed sidewalls, each of said ramps carrying a plurality of rollers.

4. An elevator as set forth in claim 3, said ramps having a pair of opposed faces, the rollers each being journaled on a shaft carried by the lower face of the ramp, there being a slot in the ramp corresponding to each roller whereby a portion of the roller may extend therethrough into a horizontal plane above that of the upper face of the ramp.

4 l II 

1. An elevator for brick or the like comprising: a trackway; a support assembly for said trackway; a trough and a first and second platform defined by said trackway, said trough being positioned centrally of said trackway, said first platform being defined by a pair of horizontally spaced, level stretches of said trackway adjacent said trough and lying in a horizontal plane above that of the trough, said second platform being defined by a pair of horizontally spaced, level stretches of said trackway adjacent said stretches defining said first platform and lying in a horizontal plane above that of said first platform; and a driven chain carried by said support assembly for movement along said trackway in said trough, said chain having spaced apart lugs thereon, said lugs extending above the horizontal plane of all of said platforms.
 2. An elevator as set forth in claim 1, there being a pair of opposed rails for said trackway, one of said rails being secured to one stretch of said second platform, the other rail being spaced from the other stretch of said second platform; and an angle member between said other rail and said other stretch, said rail and said angle member cooperating to define a hod return slide.
 3. An elevator for brick or the like comprising a trackway; a support assembly for said trackway; a driven chain carried by said support assembly for movement along said trackway, said chain having spaced-apart lugs thereon; a trough and a series of spaced platforms defined by said trackway, said chain moving in said trough, the brick being supported by a selected platform and moved therealong by said chain; and an extension hingedly attached to the unloading end of said trackway, said extension defined by a pair of horizontally spaced ramps and opposed sidewalls, each of said ramps carrying a plurality of rollers.
 4. An elevator as set forth in claim 3, said ramps having a pair of opposed faces, the rollers each being journaled on a shaft carried by the lower face of the ramp, there being a slot in the ramp corresponding to each roller whereby a portion of the roller may extend therethrough into a horizontal plane above that of the upper face of the ramp. 